Remote control device having classified channels

ABSTRACT

A remote control device includes a housing having one or more buttons, a processor unit received in the housing, and a memory coupled to the processor unit. The groups of required or selected channels may be selectively entered into the memory with keys or buttons, and the entered or selected groups of channels may then be easily and quickly controlled and selected by the button. For example, the movie channels and/or the news channels, and/or the sports channels may be stored in the memory and may be easily and quickly selected with the selected buttons.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention

[0002] The present invention relates to a remote control device, andmore particularly to a remote control device having one or more keys toselect the required or the predetermined classified channels easily.

[0003] 2. Description of the Prior Art

[0004] Typical remote control devices, particularly the remote controldevices for controlling the televisions, include an up (^ ) key and adown (v) key to change the channels in series and to select the requiredchannels one by one. For example, when the present channel is 23rdchannel, and the user is going to choose the 38th channel, the user haveto depress the up (^ ) key 15 times in order to reach the 38th channel.The users may also use the keys from 0-9 in order to directly select therequired channel. However, the users have to select many of the channelsbefore they may select the required channel.

[0005] The present invention has arisen to mitigate and/or obviate theafore-described disadvantages of the conventional remote controldevices.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0006] The primary objective of the present invention is to provide aremote control device including one or more keys to select the requiredor the predetermined classified channels easily, the selected groups ofchannels may be stored in the memory and may be easily and quicklyselected with a key or button.

[0007] In accordance with one aspect of the invention, there is provideda remote control device comprising a housing including at least onebutton provided thereon, a processor unit received in the housing, amemory received in the housing and coupled to the processor unit, meansfor entering selected channels into the memory and to be controlled andselected by the button. The group or selected or classified channels maythus be easily and quickly selected.

[0008] An infrared emitting unit is further provided and coupled to theprocessor unit and includes a transistor having a collector coupled to adiode and a first resistor, a second resistor coupled parallel to thediode and the first resistor and coupled to a base of the transistor,and a third resistor coupled to the base of the transistor.

[0009] A power unit and a low voltage detecting unit are furtherprovided and coupled to the processor unit. A channel control unit isfurther provided and coupled to the processor unit and includes fourpairs of diodes and resistors coupled parallel to each other and coupledto the processor unit.

[0010] Further objectives and advantages of the present invention willbecome apparent from a careful reading of a detailed descriptionprovided hereinbelow, with appropriate reference to accompanyingdrawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0011]FIG. 1 is a plane view of a remote control device in accordancewith the present invention;

[0012]FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating the devices or the membersof the remote control device;

[0013]FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the circuits for the devices orthe members of the remote control device;

[0014]FIGS. 4, 5, 6 are flow charts showing the channel increasingprocesses, the channel deleting processes, and the classified channelsdeleting processes, respectively; and

[0015]FIGS. 7 and 8 are block diagrams illustrating the processes tocopy the remote control device.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

[0016] Referring to the drawings, and initially to FIGS. 1-3, a remotecontrol device in accordance with the present invention comprises ahousing 1 including a processor unit, such as a microprocessing unit(MCU) 30 disposed or provided therein. As shown in FIG. 3, the MCU 30includes a microprocessor 31, a quartz oscillator 32 coupled to themicroprocessor 31 for timing purposes, a resistor 33 and a diode 34coupled parallel to each other and coupled in series to a capacitor 35for forming a resetting circuit, and a liquid crystal displayer 36 andone or more diodes 37 coupled to the microprocessor 31. The housing 1includes a number of keys 38 provided therein and coupled to the MCU 30for adjusting the volume or for selecting the required channels or forentering the required information to the MCU 30 in order to control theMCU 30.

[0017] A memory 39, a power unit 40, an infrared emitting unit 41, a lowvoltage detecting unit 47, and a channel control unit 60 are coupled tothe MCU 30. The memory 39 may be an erasable memory. The power unit 40may include one or more batteries disposed therein for energizing theremote control device. The infrared emitting unit 41 may be used to emitan infrared control signal and includes a transistor 42 having acollector coupled in series to a diode 43 and a resistor 44, a resistor45 coupled parallel to the diode 43 and the resistor 44, and anotherresistor 46 coupled to the resistor 45 and coupled to the base of thetransistor 42. The low voltage detecting unit 47 may be used to detectthe voltage of the batteries in the power unit 40 and includes anintegrated circuit 48 coupled to a resistor 49, in order to generate andtransmit a warning signal to the MCU 30 when the batteries have beendecreased to the predetermined low voltage. The channel control unit 60includes four resistors 62, 63, 64, 65 coupled in series with fourdiodes 66, 67, 68, 69 respectively, and the four pairs of resistors62-65 and diodes 66-69 are then coupled parallel to each other andcoupled to the MCU 30, for controlling the channels entering into ordeleted from the memory 39, for example. The resistors 62-65 may be thelight crystal displayers or the light emitting diodes (LED).

[0018] The housing 1 includes one or more buttons 70, 71, 72, 73 forrepresenting and for collecting and for selecting the required or thepredetermined or the classified channels, and includes one or more lightdevices 74 provided therein for indicating the operation of the buttons70-73. For example, the similar channels for such as entertainment maybe selected and stored in one of the buttons 70 which may then be usedto select only the classified and the selected and the predeterminedentertainment channels. The movie channels may be selected and stored inanother button 71 which may then be used to select only the classifiedand the selected and the predetermined movie channels. The news and/orsports channels may be selected and stored in a further button 72 whichmay then be used to select only the classified and the selected and thepredetermined news and/or sports channels. The combined channels may beselected and stored in another button 73 which may then be used toselect only the classified and the selected and the predeterminedcombined channels. The housing 1 may include a further button 77 toselect all of the channels instead of the classified channels.

[0019] Referring next to FIG. 4, illustrated are the processes foradding or increasing the channels in the selected or classified groupsof channels. First, either of the buttons 70-73 is depressed (10) toselect the required groups of channels. The button 70 is forentertainment channels, the button 71 is for movie channels, the button72 is for news and sports channels, and the button 73 is for the otherchannels, such as the combination channels. For example, when the moviebutton 71 is depressed, the light device 74 for the movie channels willbe energized and/or flashed. The user may then enter (11) the selectedmovie channel by the keys 38, and may then depress the all channelbutton 77, and aim the remote control device to the television, and thendepress the all channel button 77 again to confirm the adding of theselected or the entered channel. The light device 74 may flash when theadding of the channel is completed and confirmed. If the light device 74do not flash or if the channel has been wrongly entered, the user mayenter the correct channel again. The user may repeat (13) the processes(11) and (12) until all the required or selected channels have beenadded. The newly added channels may be memorized or stored in the memory39. After all of the required channels have been added, the movie button71 is depressed again (14) in order to leave the channel increasingprocesses. The light device 74 for movie channels may be turned off whenleaving the channel increasing processes.

[0020] Referring next to FIG. 5, illustrated are the processes fordeleting the channels in the selected or classified groups of channels.First, either of the buttons 70-73 is depressed (15) to delete one ofthe channels that have previously been added therein. For example, whenthe movie button 71 is depressed, the light device 74 for the moviechannels will be energized and/or flashed. The user may then move (16)to the selected movie channel that is to be deleted by the button 78,and may then depress (17) the all channel button 77 to confirm thedeleting of the selected channel. The light device 74 may flash when thedeleting of the channel is completed and confirmed. If the light device74 do not flash or if the channel has not been deleted, the user mayselect the correct channel to be deleted again. The user may repeat (18)the processes (16) and (17) until all the selected channels have beendeleted. The deleted channels may also be memorized or stored in thememory 39. After all of the required channels have been deleted, themovie button 71 is depressed again in order to leave the channeldeleting processes. The light device 74 for movie channels may also beturned off when leaving the channel deleting processes.

[0021] Referring next to FIG. 6, when it is required to delete all thepreviously added channels in one of the classified groups of channels,for example, when all of the previously added news and sports channelsare to be deleted, the news and sports button 72 is depressed and thelight device 74 for the news and sports channels will be energized, andthen the news and sports button 72 is depressed again such that thechannels stored in the news and sports button 72 will all be deleted.The light device 74 for the news and sports channels will be turned offwhen all of the channels stored in the news and sports button 72 haveall been deleted.

[0022] Referring next to FIG. 7, the data or the information stored inthe remote control device 22 may be directly transmitted to the othernew remote control device 24 with cables 23 or the like. Referring nextto FIG. 8, the data or the information stored in the remote controldevice 22 may also be transmitted to a personal computer 27 which maythen be transmitted to the other new remote control device 24 withcables 23 or the like.

[0023] It is to be noted that the selected entertainment channels may beintroduced or added into the memory 39 and may be easily and quicklyselected by the entertainment button 70. Similarly, the selected moviechannels may be introduced or added into the memory 39 and may be easilyand quickly selected by the movie button 71. Similarly, the selectednews-and-sports channels may be introduced or added into the memory 39and may be easily and quickly selected by the news-and-sports button 72.Similarly, the selected combination channels may be introduced or addedinto the memory 39 and may be easily and quickly selected by thecombination button 73. The users need not to select the required channelby depressing the buttons or keys in series. The displayer 36 may beused to show the channels entered or deleted or to show the otherinformation.

[0024] Accordingly, the remote control device in accordance with thepresent invention includes one or more keys to select the required orthe predetermined classified channels easily, the groups of selectedchannels may be stored in the memory and may be easily and quicklyselected with a key or button.

[0025] Although this invention has been described with a certain degreeof particularity, it is to be understood that the present disclosure hasbeen made by way of example only and that numerous changes in thedetailed construction and the combination and arrangement of parts maybe resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention as hereinafter claimed.

I claim:
 1. A remote control device comprising: a housing including atleast one button provided thereon, a processor unit received in saidhousing, a memory received in said housing and coupled to said processorunit, means for entering selected channels into said memory and to becontrolled and selected by said at least one button.
 2. The remotecontrol device according to claim 1 further comprising an infraredemitting unit coupled to said processor unit.
 3. The remote controldevice according to claim 2, wherein said infrared emitting unitincludes a transistor having a collector coupled to a diode and a firstresistor, a second resistor coupled parallel to said diode and saidfirst resistor and coupled to a base of said transistor, and a thirdresistor coupled to said base of said transistor.
 4. The remote controldevice according to claim 1 further comprising a power unit and a lowvoltage detecting unit coupled to said processor unit.
 5. The remotecontrol device according to claim 1 further comprising a channel controlunit coupled to said processor unit.
 6. The remote control deviceaccording to claim 5, wherein said channel control unit includes fourpairs of diodes and resistors coupled parallel to each other and coupledto said processor unit.